Solutions to Sun Damage

This is the letter that I wrote to a 50-year-old friend in another state when she asked for that magic bullet for her sun-damaged face…

Rehabbing and Refreshing your face is a project for the rest of your life, my dear. Yes, you are worth the effort! Believe me! I know, sigh, another project. But just as you stay on top of your hair coloring and cut and dental appointments, you need to keep up with caring for your face. Please find a cosmetic doctor whom you respect, whose aesthetic of beauty is like yours, and then make a game plan with her. I suspect that you will get every 3-month BOTOX, yearly filler (go cheeks!) and whatever peels and laser resurfacing she suggests to rehab your sun damaged skin. Monthly facials, with LED light treatments or micro needling, can even out your skin tone too. I don’t recommend getting filler one place, discount (Groupon) botox somewhere else, etc. We in the trade call them Groupon morons for a reason! You want a cohesive plan, so you look really good. Drs give discounts to good patients, trust me.

The most important part is how you treat your skin at home. You need a doable regime to help your skin twice a day at home, just as you brush your teeth twice a day. Office treatments can do only so much, I am afraid. Your new esthetician (at the Drs office or someone she works with) can show you what to use and when to use it. It is a bit intimidating, all those different skin lines, but really the most important thing is the daily skincare.

And on the “you are what you eat” subject, I hope that you will continue the Barleans high Lignan Flax seed oil, 3 capsules in the AM. Basically with your AM meal. This is an amazing moisturizer (everywhere) and skin plumper. Never use artificial sugars nor drink soft drinks. Their breakdown products cause glycation products in the skin, which causes accelerated aging. Gin and Tonics with the non-high fructose tonic by Feverfew, are, of course, OK 🙂

You are not a smoker nor sunner now, so I don’t have to beat that drum. There is a product called Heliocare that is available at Walgreens. It is made from a Central American fern that protects you from sunburn. A worthwhile daily pill for tennis time etc.

Please talk with your new MD about treating your chest a bit too. Nothing looks more unnatural than a beautiful, pale, rejuvenated face and a brown speckled chest. It is the whole effect that makes you look good, not just one element. It is the total project idea.

IMO, the idea is too look good, not done; rested not worried; rejuvenated not bursting with fillers. I like to leave some animation in the face. But that is my aesthetic, you may have some other ideas about how you want to see your face age. It is your face, your aesthetic. That is what you discuss with your project manager aka this new cosmetic doctor.